The Russo-German War, 1941-45

Man! Over 500 pages of small print. In the done pile. Probably one of the best Russian Front books I have read in a while. I am still baffled by the titanic battles fought on the Eastern Front. The only time the US Army went head to head with the Germans (other than small times in North Africa) was the Battle Of The Bulge. 1941 till the capitulation of Germany saw massive battles of armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands on both sides. The final estimate of losses for both sides at the end was 6 million German soldiers to 14 million Red Army (10 million permanent losses). The Germans lost a further 2 million soldiers on the Western and other fronts. The book starts with the lead up, Barbarossa, the 1942 Stalingrad battles, Kursk, Bagration, and finally the Russian drive into Eastern Europe. The early massive pincer movements caught and destroyed numerous Soviet armies. As soon as the encirclement was complete the Germans faced newly raised Soviet armies to their fronts. No sooner had those been destroyed, the Soviets created more. The Red Army had an almost inexhaustible supply of manpower. The German Army was consigned to death as soon as Hitler ordered the attack. Luckily for us he did so or the US and the UK with their allies would have faced those 6 million German soldiers.

Once, many, many, years ago, I met a German soldier showing off some of the (at the time) West German armor. I was young and asked him a few questions about the wide tracks/tires, the high chassis, and wide displacement. He said that those were built from the lessons learned from the armored battles on the Russian Front. He also said the next time the invaded Russia they would not have as many problems as they did in 1941-1945.

This is one of several books that had been on the shelf for years and years, and finally got around to reading the complete work. Perhaps it helped that I had read other works about this theater of war, but I can appreciate the effort that the author made to try to distill for an American audience perhaps the most brutal theater of the Second World War. For a first time reader about that theater, this could be a good reference, if not a little overwhelming at times.

Granted, this was originally written in the 1970s, so much has changed and much more information has come available over the years. Still, I am not so sure this work has aged well. The strength of the work is in the military analysis, looking at the operational and tactical levels. The strategic analysis, at least from a military perspective is stronger from the German military side, probably because at the time of the writing, the author had more access to German archives and sources vs. the then Soviets. There are some facts that he could not have known for certain, such as the true perpetrators of the Kaytn Massacre of the Polish officers (only revealed in the late 1980s by the USSR).

Yet, it is impossible to try to describe the entirety of the Eastern Front in one volume. He tries, but there is a lot to be discussed, and he can’t get it all. Yet, what he provides can be lacking at times. He had a dedicated chapter to the naval actions and then specific chapters on some of the countries, but there is much more that could have been said, particularly on the second half of the Soviets driving the Germans back. Even the descriptions of the military events can be hard to follow, especially since the maps do not easily align with the descriptions (making it hard for those readers who are not already very familiar with military terminology). He tries to describe about the geo-political concerns, and while in some areas, mainly Finland, he does well, in others, it feels a bit superfluous. Then, he goes through all the writing and analysis, and then offers up a few pages for a conclusion, which just condemns Hitler (not wrongly), but doesn’t seem to offer any real necessary insight/affirmations for the reader to take away (big lessons learned for future fighters, etc).

At times, I don’t know who this work was written for, and that can impact the rating. If for the military professional, attempting to study the war for future reference, then it work okay. Not great, but useful. For the lay reader, or the first time learner/researcher...it will be hard to follow. There is much to learn, but can’t say this is the best one volume work to go to for that learning.

This is a very good overview of the Eastern Front, told mainly from the army and corps-level perspective. Albert Seaton does a very good job describing troop movements and the amount of equipment involved. He also paints a very vivid picture of both the German and Soviet Army's leadership. Much detail is given to the larger operations of the war (Typhoon, Citadel, Case Blue, Uranus, etc.) as well as some of the lesser known battles, such as the Second Battle of Kharkov and the Cherkassy Pocket. A few chapters are devoted to the politics of Hitler and Stalin towards their allies during the war. This helps the reader connect the operational narrative into the overall strategy of the war in the East. The one major problem I have with Seaton's work is a lack of maps and what maps there are don't really have enough detail to be useful. Other than that, this is a great book for those looking for a classic military history on the colossal struggle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

this is the definitive work on the topic. it goes into a lot of detail concernig the german overconfince in 1941. this was to play a major factor in the failure of the barbarossa campaign to reach moscow in 1941. i also like the anecdote about the russians wanting to inspect the german tank factories before the war and replying, is this the best youve got. the war is done in impressive detail although his critsim of manstien during the battle of stalingrad i thought were unfair.

Although superseded by the work that has been published since the opening of the Soviet archives, this is a reasonably complete overview and has the virtue of giving a solid narrative from which the more recent works make their departure.

Published in 1971 and perhaps showing its age given more recent scholarship, Seaton’s achievement in capturing the German-Soviet war on World War II’s Eastern Front is still admirable.

A very good, detailed book that covers the entire war in the east during WWII.